Human
by Elisabeth-l
Summary: Set right after Eclipse, before Breaking Dawn. A typical day in the lives of Bella and the Cullens. How Bella loses an argument to Alice, struggles with her feelings around Jasper, nearly chokes on her food because of Emmett's antics, and more.


**Title: **Human  
**Author:** Elisabeth  
**Characters/Pairings: **Bella, the Cullens, mild Bella/Edward  
**Rating: **K  
**Warnings: **References to Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse  
**Summary: **Set right after Eclipse, before Breaking Dawn. A typical day in the lives of Bella and the Cullens. How Bella loses an argument to Alice, struggles with her feelings around Jasper, nearly chokes on her food because of Emmett's antics, and more.  
**Disclaimer: **Everything belongs to Stephenie Meyer.

**H U M A N**

Ever since the day we got engaged, I have been spending more time at Edward's house than at home. The Cullens' house just feels like home now. Alice has even started buying me new clothes. I was going to forbid her, but she reminded me that Edward's room was, in fact, Edward's. So only Edward could forbid her to fill his closet with new clothes for me. Which, of course, he did not do. When I refused to wear the new clothes, and simply kept wearing _my_ clothes, the older ones started disappearing. I did not notice at first, but when the shelf that usually contained my shirts was empty one day, I figured I should probably have a talk with Alice. Naturally, she was already sitting on Edward's bed when I turned around.

"You know, I am going to win this argument," she said in that perfect, annoyingly convincing voice. I realized that arguing about the new clothes was a lost case. Alice's face turned a bit smug at that.

"Look, I know there's nothing I can do about the new clothes, but just because this is Edward's room does not mean you get to steal my old clothes." I knew she couldn't argue me here, I was right, and she would have to admit that.

"You're right," she answered, surprising me. She leaped up from the bed, and was suddenly right in front of me, smiling like a true victor. It annoyed me. "I would never do such a thing. If you'd checked your closet at home, you would've found all your clothes exactly where they belong." She kissed my cheek, and happily bounced through the door.

So that was it. Alice was dead set on turning me into a Cullen even before the wedding. With a frown on my face, I turned to look at the closet again, where I knew I would only find new clothes I was not sure I would like. There was no escaping this, I had to get dressed, and I would have to wear these ridiculously expensive clothes. I picked jeans (eternally grateful that Alice had not completely ignored my preference for jeans, and slightly bothered that she bought jeans that looked so unlike jeans…) and a white blouse, probably the most basic outfit in the entire closet.

I was still a bit annoyed and distracted by Alice's persistence, when someone knocked on the door, just minutes after Alice left. I suddenly felt very self-conscious in my new clothes. The door opened and Jasper stepped in, a knowing smile on his face. Trust Jasper to find you in your most perturbed moments.

"Good morning," he said, leaning against the doorframe.

"Hi, Jasper." I had always found it strange to say good morning to a vampire. I imagined morning to be the worst time of the day for them. "What is it?" I asked, knowing that he would not come into my room— I mean, Edward's room, for no reason. He smiled. Jasper could not read minds, I knew that much for sure, but he always seemed to know everything anyway. To me, he was more of a mind reader than Edward.

"Alice wanted me to tell you that Edward and Carlisle are nearly home. She thought you might want to know that." I knew that was not all—Alice could have told me that herself when she was in here just minutes ago—but I decided to play along.

"Thanks, Jasper. I'll just go downstairs for breakfast then." It worked. Jasper remained right where he was, instead of walking away, the normal course of action for Jasper whenever he finished a conversation with me (a remainder of Edward's incessant warnings that Jasper stay away from me as much as possible).

"You know, Bella," he started, "I agree with you that Alice is very…" he struggled to find the word, "thorough, and persistent, when it comes to shopping." He said this with an amused look in his eyes, and a wave towards Edward's closet. "But I think you know she means well." He was right of course, but I could not help but feel a bit defiant.

"That does not make it any less annoying though," I countered. Jasper laughed at that, and I smiled back, not quite sure why.

"That's true," he said, and I suddenly felt a lot more at ease. I was not sure whether it was relief that he knew what I meant, or not. You never could be quite sure of your feelings around Jasper. He continued. "You'll get used to it. We all did." He winked at me then, and I could not help but chuckle. Poor Jasper. He had been going through this a lot longer than I had.

Before he was halfway through the door, he spun around again to look at me. "Don't doubt yourself so much Bella, you look good in those clothes." I think I blushed. Damn mind reader. The thought of thanking Alice crossed my mind.

When I got to the kitchen, I was greeted by a very happy Emmett. His smiles were always so contagious, which was actually quite a pain when you were trying to eat. Emmett had taken to joining me in the kitchen whenever I ate, and never failed to have me choke on my food at least once per meal. It brought him great joy.

Esme was also there, and appeared to be making me breakfast. "Good morning, dear. How did you sleep?" Esme was the one who first invited me to spend the night with them, just for fun. She seemed even more delightful about it than Edward, or even me, at times.

"I slept like a log. But Esme, you really don't have to make me breakfast every morning. I don't mind doing it." She smiled at me, reassuring me that it was okay. I had told her once before, but she had said she missed cooking sometimes. It wasn't everyday that they had a human over for breakfast. Or dinner. Or lunch. At the time, I accepted her answer, but since I came here so often now, I felt like I should relieve her off her duties occasionally. She never let me, unless she was hunting.

She handed me the plate, still smiling, and I deliberated in which chair I would be safest from Emmett's attempts to distract me from eating. Thanking Esme, I decided to sit on the same side of the table, so he would at least not be able to stare at me. Two whole minutes of peaceful breakfast had past when I noticed that Emmett had stopped reading his newspaper. His eyes were burning into my temple, but I ignored him. Three bites later the eyes suddenly felt much closer. Still, I ignored him. I was proud to reach the final bite, without looking at Emmett once. I put the last piece of sandwich in my mouth, when something grey flashed just past my head. I jumped, turned to see what it was (the newspaper, now lying on the ground), and when I turned back, there was Emmett's face, barely an inch from mine, graced by a grin that truly seemed to reach from ear to ear. It was a hilarious sight, and like always, I spluttered my laugh, already choking on my food.

Edward and Carlisle chose that moment to enter the kitchen. All four of them were laughing at my helpless state now. My face was burning, probably bright red. I coughed one last time, cleared my throat, and pretended it never happened.

Edward was by my side, and when he kissed the top of my head, I felt like a weight I did not know I was carrying was lifted off my shoulders. His cool hands began to massage my neck, touching me ever so slightly, but it felt like heaven none the less. Edward continued loosening the knots in my neck while Carlisle spoke.

"Edward and I kept an eye on the clouds," he spoke to all of us, even Jasper, Alice and Rosalie, who were upstairs, "there will be a thunderstorm over town soon." It was code for 'be ready for baseball in 15 minutes, everyone'.

I should have been used to it by now, like I had gotten used to all other oddities that came with living with a vampire family, but I was not. I did not think I would ever get used to seeing the entire Cullen family together. They were playing now, all except Carlisle. He was the referee, and stood by me while we both watched the others play. I liked the change, normally Esme would have been the referee. Not that I did not like talking to Esme, but it had been a while since I spoke to Carlisle.

He was currently telling me a story about a particular April Fool's Day. Carlisle was an amazing story teller. His sense of humor surprised me at first, but it was something I counted on with every story now.

"You can imagine, it's not easy to pull a prank on Edward. We eventually decided to let Alice handle it, she's very good at sneaking around." Jasper, who was closest to us, burst out laughing. I looked over to Alice, who was up to bat, and saw her glaring at Carlisle, who simply smiled back at her. Alice seemed to be challenging Carlisle to something, it went unspoken. It was not uncommon for any of the Cullens to do this, even though only one of them could actually read minds. When you spend as much time with your family as them, I suppose you do not need words to communicate.

The short time-out allowed me to look around the field once more. Of course, my eyes first fell on Edward, who looked me straight in the eye. He smiled that crooked grin, and my pulse quickened, barely noticeable. Well, to me, anyway. From the corner of my eye I think I saw Jasper cast a quick glance at me.

My eye-contact was broken when I suddenly heard Rosalie's voice close by. I hadn't heard her approach. She did that a lot.

"Mind if we switch?" she asked Carlisle. Usually, Rosalie would have avoided being the referee, as it meant talking to me. She had accepted me by now, but still found it difficult to talk to me one on one. The conversation would turn awkward or fall silent as soon as something 'human' was mentioned. We never had long conversations.

"I promise to tell you the rest of the story tonight, Bella," Carlisle told me with an unnecessarily apologetic look when took off for the field. "And don't let Edward talk you into hearing it from him, he'll skip all the good parts." He gave me one last smile, and before I could register where his place on the field would be, he was already there…

I felt Rosalie's eyes on me, and turned my head to look at her. She had a smile on her face. "Don't be offended, Bella, but I was wondering, can I cut your hair for you someday? It was blowing in the wind just now, and I noticed you haven't had a haircut in a long time."

Rosalie never ceased to catch me off-guard.

After the game, Edward drove me home. Like always, I was having dinner with Charlie. Esme and even Edward had offered to make me dinner quite a few times, but I preferred going to Charlie's. I had many reasons for that. First of all, I liked spending time with Charlie, I saw him even less these days. Of course, I also liked cooking. Third, I could take the teasing during breakfast—I was a very fast eater during breakfast—, but Emmett sitting through dinner with me would be torture.

The last reason was the most important one for me. See, the Cullens were all amazing, beautiful and stunning by default, and special all in their own way. They made me feel welcome, safe, and special in _my _own way. I felt at home and perfectly happy with them. There was one thing that they could never do, though, something Charlie could.

Charlie made me feel human.


End file.
